Presently, when disassembling items that contain fasteners, including screws, nuts, or bolts, and washers or any parts that require removal and temporary storage, it is time consuming and cumbersome to place, label, and when the time comes for reassembly, locate the correct part for the stage of reassembly at hand.
Some devices have been developed to help with this task. For example, the Tool and Parts Tray in U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,004 issued to Vest et al., Apr. 11, 1995, is primarily designed and described for use in the repair of a motor vehicle. As a result, the Vest device is limited to storing any magnetizable parts and/or tools in a large general chamber. Although the Vest device includes a magnet, the Vest device provides little assistance for organizing and labeling specific parts.
The Selectable Multi-Compartment Magnetic Dispenser in U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,743, issued to Robert M. Leedy, Aug. 27, 1974, separates similar articles into different chambers. However, the Leedy device is primarily a container that dispenses like articles from various compartments. Leedy is not intended for use as a workstation device, but rather as a storage dispenser device, capable of holding large quantities of similar articles in an enclosed chamber.
As with the Leedy device, the Container For Magnetizable Articles in U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,777, issued to Linnedehr, Dec. 5, 1972, is a primarily a dispenser. Although Linnedehr uses magnetism to hold articles, the stored items are held inside a chamber rather than mounted on the device exterior.
What is needed is a device that incorporates the features of the known devices, while overcoming the shortcomings they exhibit. The device should be rotatable to allow access to all items sorted, as desired. The device should also include magnets to store magnetizable items for easy retrieval. The device should also include a variable drag feature to selectively alter the ease with which the device rotates.